Are we creating an atmosphere of exceptionalism for Islam?

Louis Smith is the Olympic poster boy who seems to have gone from hero to zero in a matter of months. A sweet lad and a brilliant athlete, Smith is the
only gymnast to have won medals in the last three Olympics (a total of five) as well as taking the Strictly crown in 2012 and thousands of new fans.

This year, though, he has been censured twice by British Gymnastics: once for questioning the judging in Rio, when he was beaten into second place by
Max Whitlock; and then for attaching a snotty comment to a photo of a female competitor on social media.

But worse was to come - a few weeks ago, Smith got drunk at a friend's wedding and in the small hours was singing a song from Aladdin with his mate
when they picked up a small carpet and made some jokes about Islamic prayers. Stupidly, the images were posted on social media and subsequently
Smith has received death threats, culminating in a series of abject apologies, including one during an interview with me on Loose Women.

I must say that Louis Smith is a thoroughly nice (if not terribly bright) person who has spoken sincerely and honestly about the struggle to be a
role model. He was diagnosed with ADHD at seven and is extremely close to his mother. Meeting Louis, you realise within a minute that this chap might
be dumb, but he's no worse than the average cocky young man after a few beers.

News and Articles on Religion and Atheism

A woman has been beheaded for visiting a city without her husband, officials in Afghanistan have said.
The Middle East Press claims a government spokesman told them Taliban militants killed her for the "infidelity act" of going shopping without a
male guardian.

Forget believing in Santa - the tumultuous events of 2016 appear to have left Britons unable to believe in God.
A YouGov poll for the Times has shown a 4-point decline in the percentage of people who believe in a higher power, from 32 per cent in Feb
last year to 28 per cent now.

A self-styled Russian campaigner for morality in schools has boasted about the dismissal of a teacher he describes as a "lesbian" and "satanist".
He professes to be fighting decadence because he is a pious Muslim.

Under an ancient Hindu practice, called chhaupadi, women who have their periods or who have just given birth are seen as impure.
Police in Nepal are investigating the death of a 15-year-old girl who was banished to a poorly-ventilated shed because she was menstruating.

Taliban militants in Afghanistan have shot dead a woman who divorced her husband and remarried, officials say.
The killing took place in north-western Badghis province. There are some reports that the woman's husband had authorised the separation from abroad.

Saudi Arabia is launching a programme to "inoculate" children against Westernisation, atheism, liberalism and secularism.
They were listed as threats to "ideological security", ahead of the danger from extremist groups including Isis and al-Qaeda and sectarianism.

A 12-year-old German-Iraqi boy tried to blow up a Christmas market in the town of Ludwigshafen.
He left a rucksack with explosives which failed to detonate in November, and another by the town hall a few days later.

A bomb explosion in the Coptic Christian cathedral complex in the Egyptian capital Cairo has killed at least 25 people, officials say.
Dozens of others were injured in the blast in a chapel adjoining St Mark's cathedral during a Sunday service.

Islamic leaders in Australia have backed a campaign to produce an alternative to Peppa Pig set in a "predominantly Muslim town".
The ANIC encouraged parents to raise funds for TV that supports Islamic values.

Saudi Women are still not permitted to drive cars, with this being ruled by Wahhibist scholars as "haram", or forbidden, due to the requirement
for women to maintain covering, and the threat that they would have to interact with men outside their families.

Powerful testimony from Muslim women has been published by MPs as part of their investigation into sharia, while activists
have warned that its approach so far has favoured those who support sharia councils.

Detained in Dubai, an organisation that assists victims of injustice in the UAE, has warned against reporting rape or other
crimes in the country because of the "manipulation when it comes to criminal accusations" and "racist" preconceptions against Western tourists.

Saudi Arabia,s highest Islamic figure, the grand mufti, denounced the call to abolish guardianship as a crime against Islam. On the other hand,
a number of key religious figures supported ending guardianship on the basis that the system does not have a grounding in Islam; a conflicting scenario
typical to every public demand to reform women's rights. State officials repeatedly attribute delays in enforcing gender equality to cultural beliefs.

Thousands of ex-Muslims in Britain are living in fear of violent revenge for abandoning the Islamic faith while others are afraid to admit they
no longer believe, a support group for ex-Muslims has said.

Thousands of people have circulated a short animation video designed to show the restrictions that Saudi Arabia's male guardianship system places on women.
The video, published on Facebook by Human Rights Watch, depicts a Saudi woman being forced to reconcile with her abusive husband.
It shows the woman being beaten by her husband before he orders her to leave the home. She then goes to a shelter and is told the best thing she can do is
reconcile with her husband.

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